Chapter 30

Chapter 30

By noon, the rain had stopped.

Although the sky over Chaka Salt Lake hadn’t cleared, the rolling dark clouds reflected on the water’s surface, blending sky and lake into one, like a drifting ink-and-wash painting with snow.

After the rain, Qu Yixian returned to the car to check.

Fu Xun was still asleep.

He must have woken once in the middle, then reclined the seat again. His face was slightly turned toward the window, leaving only half of it visible, most of it hidden by the collar of his jacket.

No wonder people say good looks are heaven’s reward.

Qu Yixian couldn’t bring herself to sulk while just staring at that half-face. After turning off the engine, she rolled down the window halfway to let him get some fresh air.

Seeing it was still early, and not wanting to sit alone feeling bored, she left Yuan Ye in the car to keep watch and wandered around the park like the elderly people, pacing back and forth until she found a card game to watch for fun.

Those playing Landlord in the scenic parking lot, chatting idly, were mostly the team leaders of various motorcades.

Chaka Salt Lake has long been famed as a “Mirror of the Sky.” The scenery was beautiful, and photographers had plenty of room to explore. A single command and shutter click, and half an hour would fly by. Not to mention trying until the shot was perfect. Even among women, could one not realize that a single pose looked different from 360 angles?

It would take at least two hours before Jiang Yun came out.

Qu Yixian comfortably took her place behind the card table.

——

When Fu Xun woke, the first thing he saw was Yuan Ye sitting in the driver’s seat. He was buried in a mobile game, occasionally muttering “useless teammates.” When he instinctively turned to look at Fu Xun, he was startled.

“Xun… Xun-ge, you’re awake?”

He pulled out one earphone, still focused on the game, and said, “Jiang Yun hasn’t come back yet. We’re all waiting here.”

Fu Xun didn’t move.

After adjusting for a moment, he asked hoarsely, “Where’s Qu Ye?”

“Qu Ye went ahead to watch people play cards for fun,” Yuan Ye replied smoothly, laughing twice before adding, “I’ll tell you secretly, don’t be fooled by her perfect professional skills. Out here, she shows more boyfriend energy than a real man, but actually, she’s terrible at games.”

Fu Xun asked, “Then what does she do to pass the time?”

“At first, she played with knots—she could turn knot-tying into an art. Later, when her skills improved, she started tinkering with cars. The Prado I drove before? She disassembled it so many times, every time putting it back with either a missing screw or part. It was so annoying.” Yuan Ye complained, glanced at him, his eyes carrying a hint of flattery and a small plea: “Don’t tell her about any of this. She won’t do anything to you, but she’ll definitely vent on me later.”

Fu Xun chuckled softly, recognizing that this was exactly something Qu Yixian would do.

Seeing Fu Xun smile, Yuan Ye laughed along.

He glanced at the time and asked, “Xun-ge, do you want to wash your face and wake up a bit? There’s a restroom just outside the scenic area. By the time you wash up and come back, Jiang Yun should be out.”

Fu Xun nodded, got out of the car, put on his jacket, and crossed the wet driveway toward the restroom.

Just after crossing the driveway, he saw Qu Yixian sitting in the back of a van, leaning in to watch the card game. She was outside the table, yet clear as if standing right within it, her features striking like a sunbeam breaking through the clouds.

Unexpectedly, Fu Xun stopped.

Qu Yixian only observed one side of the game, occasionally glancing at the small temporary tables with messy cards.

Fu Xun had analyzed her expression carefully.

When she was confident, her lips curved slightly in a subtle smile. She looked mysterious, but with refined gestures she might not even notice herself. For example now: her fingers tapped lightly on her knees every few seconds.

She was counting cards.

Just like that night in early July in the Guhé River Valley Yadan formations, she was calculating movable vehicles and available rescue resources. Perhaps she didn’t even realize her fingertips secretly kept count with every plan she calculated.

If unsure, her brows would furrow slightly, signaling, “This is tricky, but not impossible.” Then her fingertips would rub whatever was at hand—walkie-talkie, water bottle, or even her sleeve.

By contrast, Fu Xun loved watching her when she was proud, or determined to challenge him to a win-or-lose. In those moments, the spark in her eyes and the curve of her brows came alive.

After finishing a game, Yuan Ye glanced in the rearview mirror. Seeing Fu Xun standing at the crossroads, he assumed he hadn’t found the way, got out enthusiastically, and started to guide him.

After a few steps, the standing Fu Xun suddenly moved, picking a direction he liked, and walked.

Yuan Ye followed, stopping where Fu Xun had stood, glancing toward the direction he had looked.

Besides the scenic area gate sign, there was nothing…

He scratched his head, about to turn back. When he withdrew his gaze, his peripheral vision caught Qu Ye sitting in the back of the van, watching the card game.

Now Yuan Ye was even more puzzled… What was so attractive about Qu Ye? She wasn’t even as one-in-a-million good-looking as him, and not that distinctive!

——

By the time Jiang Yun came out, it was already 1:30 in the afternoon.

Qu Yixian had led a few people to a nearby beef noodle shop for lunch. Without any pause, she immediately set off for the next destination.

Fu Xun didn’t change vehicles; he naturally sat in the cruiser’s front passenger seat.

Jiang Yun immediately became timid, glancing twice at the noodle shop entrance until Qu Yixian leaned out from the car and urged, “What are you dawdling for? Get in the car.”

Before Fu Xun, the atmosphere inside the car was at most quiet. But with him there, nothing needed to be done—yet the car was filled with an inexplicable sense of oppressive pressure, like Mount Tai pressing down.

Jiang Yun became restrained, shaking the legs of her jeans, wet from the salt lake and then dried by the wind, and quietly asked, “Qu Jie, can I wring out my pants?”

Qu Yixian glanced in the rearview mirror and casually asked, “What’s wrong?”

Jiang Yun’s voice grew smaller: “I’m covered in salt…”

Qu Yixian teased, “What, did you take a bath in the salt lake?”

“No.” Jiang Yun was a bit embarrassed. “The salt lake was too cold, the outdoor temperature was eleven degrees. I didn’t dare take off my pants, just wore them over my long skirt. Once I got in the water, they got wet. After lunch… they dried, but full of salt.”

“Then wring them out.” At worst, wash them in the car early tomorrow morning.

Amid the rustling movements in the back of the car, Qu Yixian glanced at Fu Xun and asked, “Hey.”

Fu Xun looked sideways, his gaze deep, heavy, like wind about to be swallowed by an abyss, not even a shadow left.

Qu Yixian pulled a candy from her cigarette case, popped it into her mouth, and unwrapped it: “Can you tone down your aura? Didn’t you scare my guest just now?”

Fu Xun glanced in the rearview mirror, his look extremely indifferent: “Am I not? Differential treatment.”

Huh, in this day and age, is there still someone so deliberately provocative?

Was he the guest or here to make trouble—doesn’t he have a clue himself?

Qu Yixian ground her teeth: “No choice, I hate the rich.”

Fu Xun suddenly curved his lips: “Then no choice, carry on with your differential treatment.”

Qu Yixian: “……”

——

Driving west along National Highway 315, about forty kilometers later, they passed the exit sign standing on the highway. After leaving the highway, they turned south.

To reach the alien ruins, they had to pass Kelu Lake and Tuosu Lake first.

Kelu Lake is a slightly salty freshwater lake with rich muddy bottom, an excellent ecological environment.

The lake on the roadside side was clear, and clusters of reeds lined the edge, with birds and wildlife. The scenery was no less beautiful than Qinghai Lake.

Qu Yixian stopped once halfway to let Jiang Yun take photos.

She walked back and forth along the roadside twice, pointing out wild black goji berries to Fu Xun: “Don’t pick them.”

Fu Xun, rarely getting out of the car, was walking his ferret. Hearing her, he gave a look: “Did I pick any?”

“No.” Qu Yixian looked at the large white rat on his shoulder: “I was talking to it.”

Fu Xun raised an eyebrow: “Looks like it wants to gnaw on you.”

Back on the road, Qu Yixian drove fast. After turning onto the small road toward the alien ruins, they passed through a gate abandoned by the local forestry department and continued deeper inside.

Gradually, the roadside highway by the lake changed from wasteland shallows to Gobi desert.

On Tuosu Lake, sunset was near. The sunlight dimmed, thick clouds in the sky were rimmed with gold, and the endless Gobi desert’s colors dulled, revealing the original earthy tone.

Fu Xun noticed that her driving behavior, once relaxed, became cautious upon entering the Tuosu Lake area.

On the walkie-talkie, Yuan Ye clicked his tongue: “Qu Ye, Tuosu Lake really is a great place. See if we can stop the car for a moment, let Jiang Yun get out and take a photo. Wearing a red dress with a fluttering scarf, she’ll look just as good as the scenery at Qinghai Lake.”

If Qinghai Lake’s scenery is a richly colored oil painting, every hue saturated to the eye-catching limit, then Tuosu Lake is like bare makeup in soft tones. Its surface is vast, with the opposite shore standing silent like black rocks in the Gobi. Reeds line the bank in clusters, like falling feathers.

The wind blows, the mist spreads, water and sky merge. The scenery is unobstructed, all falling into the eye.

“We won’t stop here.” Qu Yixian maneuvered around a collapsed section of road and pressed onward. “Otherwise, when we come back, the light will be too dim. Not safe.”

She pointed out the collapsed section to Fu Xun: “This road was only built last year. It’s not that the road quality is bad. The original route to the alien ruins was just a dirt track, crossing the Gobi desert, one car each way, one side Gobi, one side Tuosu Lake, a real dilemma.”

“Later, when the alien ruins developed into a tourist spot, they paved it. But it didn’t help much. Only a year, and the roadbed has been gnawed by Tuosu Lake like tofu, collapsing somewhere unpredictably.”

Jiang Yun was puzzled: “Tuosu Lake gnaws the road?”

She had been focused on appreciating Tuosu Lake’s scenery, pressing the shutter intently, but her ears caught the keyword and she came to Qu Yixian for clarification.

“‘Tuosu’ in Mongolian means ‘butter lake.’ It’s a typical inland saltwater lake. It doesn’t just gnaw the road—it gnaws people too.” The second part was purely meant to scare.

Jiang Yun took it seriously, her face blanching: “Gnaws people?”

Qu Yixian got excited and gave an example: “Lake monster. You know lake monsters, right?”

Jiang Yun nodded, then realized she couldn’t see her, and added, “I know, like the Loch Ness Monster?”

Qu Yixian almost laughed out loud. The little girl was so easy to trick.

She earnestly agreed: “Yes, the alien ruins are on Baigong Mountain, surrounded by the lake on the north side, which is Tuosu Lake. And look—”

Qu Yixian pointed in the direction of Baigong Mountain: “Doesn’t it look like a pyramid? There’s a legend saying Baigong Mountain was the first place aliens saw suitable for landing on Earth. What’s left now are alien ruins—the spaceship launchers. So having a lake monster in Tuosu Lake isn’t strange, right?”

Jiang Yun went “ah,” instinctively feeling she had been fooled. But thinking about it, she also felt Qu Yixian made a lot of sense.

She turned and leaned on the car window to look outside.

The water rippled, the entire lake calm and vast. It wasn’t as delicately beautiful as West Lake; the northwest scenery, even when beautiful, had a unique ruggedness and wildness.

After driving another ten kilometers along this only road, Baigong Mountain came into view.

The mountain’s desertification was severe; sand and fine desert dust, like the wind, infiltrated everything.

Qu Yixian found an open space to park. After turning off the engine, she called Yuan Ye to lead Jiang Yun to the scenic spot and help her lift the scarf for some photos.

Then she called Fu Xun over, curling her finger: “You, come with me.”

“There’s a dealer selling antiques here, with a sharp eye. I’ve brought guests before, chatted with him when idle, and know his supply channels are in Dunhuang. Also…” She deliberately paused, teasing: “He’s not exactly legitimate.”